Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1887-07-29
THE soUTH-oLD AND NEW.
A Visit to an Old Time Neutrality-suspicious.
ing Methods in Alabama.

l'i.'Al Z IL, AN, Ouly H.
To the Editor of the Free Press
Is 1t any wonder that the South was
sparsely settled before the war when
, farms or plantations contained anywhere
from five hundred to five thousand acres
In the South there was the same pride
in land ownership, as there is in England
to day. 1t was considered almost de.
grading act to sell n part of ones planta-
ton, however poor one might be- The
remnants of this feeling exists to-day in
the South. a planter will sell his place
readily enough, but he dislikes to sell part
of it,
Three weeks ago we had the pleasure of
visiting an old time plantation where the
old style of "befo de wah" Is kept up as
far as possible under the changed condi.
tons that now prevail.
Soon after daylight madame and myself
drank hasty cup of coffee each and
mounted our noises already sadded at the |
door, for II mile ride into the country. |
1t was glorious morning in the middle
of June so cool, SO calm, so bright. The |
bridal OF the earth and sky''-as gentle |
George Herbert sang, and our horses
scampered over the fields toward the
Somerville road as if they too, enjoyed
morning rides.
The mists were just disappearing from
the cotton fields and the foliage of the oak
woods this country produces nothing but
oak was an indescribable dark green
color. Mile after mile of level country
slipped away,-every mile revealing new
beauties. We reached Flint creek bot
toms at length. Deep woods, where the
great trees rose dark and straight lined
the road. On the banks of the stream
the wild grape vine clambered over trees
and bushes and hung in rich dark festoons
: from tree to tree, while the trumpet tlow-
er displayed its bright red signals from
many an overha n ging bush and fence and
the dark red of the slumac flower smoul-
dered against the deep green of its leaves.
A mile or two more we came to a soil
tary cross roads store where a young man,
undisturbed by customers, was reading a
book. Directed by him, we left the main
road here and rode over Il low hill into
woods again.
+ After cantering on for mile and a half
we came to log cabin where an aged
negro and his family were eating their
breakfast under great oak tree in front
+ of the cabin.
"Mornn' sab ="
Good morning, uncle. How far is it to
the "Dancy place ?"
f "Hous' on it now
| Possible When did we enter it ?"
p "Bout a mile back sab, whar de road
goes by de swamps."
We remembered the swamps distinctly,
for as we approached it, we saw novel
, sight for Northern eyes, two great herons
o with long necks and dangling legs, had
| sailed up oyer our heads
well, uncle, how much farther is the
big house ?"
, "Bout tree mile sah."
e And then he gave us explicit directions
: how to find our way through the planta-
ton. In spite, however, of these direc
. tions, we lost our way three times owing
to the numerous wood roads that crossed
v and re-crossed in every direction leading
to the different negro cabins and quar-
Il tiers on the place. However, all roads
z lead to Rome, and so in this case all roads
{ lead to the mansion house. A large, rath-
II II er modern plantation house came into
view at leugth in Il great oak grove OF
# some 40 or 50 acres.
i Below the house in the grove we saw the
:, spring house and Il number of great
u springs pouring forth good sized brook
= where they united. This country is ia
=. nous for its great springs. A few miles
!; from here in the beautiful city of Hunts
vile (this latter city is a southern Bur
lington in beauty, in trees, and in the cul
= ture and spirit of its inhabitantS) there
, bursts out from below the city a maguiti
= cent spring of water that flows off in !,
5 rapidly flowing stream over three feet
deep and some "a feet wide.
When ShermanS army encamped on the
!, banks Of the spring branch the whole
II army with its thousands of men, horses
mules and bummers, were supplied from
: this stream without making any impress
Il sion on its volume
~ But to return-we reached the house at
last and were most cordially welcomed
On the broad piaZZas, or in the hammocks
|, we passed the long sunny foreEoon. Later
3 on an old-fashioned dinner was on the
II table in the dining room a good sized
roasted sucking pig graced one end of the
!, board, while whole boiled ham balanced
it on the other. Between came great
variety of dishes, some of these peculiar
It southern ones, such as corn pones, -
e spoon bread and potatoes prepared
# is such a thing.
After dinner we were invited to take
the regular afternoon siesta in bed which
we did.
n NHen lne SHADOWS were ltnRtnenlnR
we mounted our horses and rode over parl
4 of the plantation-we saw the unusually
" comfortable log cabins of the negroes
!; and an unusually intelligent lot of negroes
Il occupying them. Most of these were
o raised on the place and were formerly
|, slaves. They are cultivating the land Oh
IS shares now, receiving wo.thirds of the
/, cotton and one-half of the corn as theil
n share. On the land that had been well
taken care of we saw fine crops-the corn
already some u feet high. But much of
is the land was badly worn and the crops
y were only fair.
The owner of the plantation told me
l. that she cleared about a thousand dollars
10 a year off the whole six thousand acres
!, However, there is only some 1900 acret
under cultivation so that the owner clears
1t as much as IS cents per acre from the la nd
y under cultivation.
II This land is naturally fine, strong soil,
- capable of the highest cultivation. 1t
u responds instantly to fertilizers and holds